It took awhile, but Vanderbilt safety De'Rickey Wright was convinced.

As Wright worked towards graduation on West End he looked ahead to his final season under the bright lights at Texas A&M, where he verbally committed to out of the transfer portal, something wasn't right. Something was missing in College Station.

Wright kept feeling the pull of teammates like CJ Taylor's words, they wanted him back. They wanted to finish what they started.

The Gadsen, Alabama, native wasn't so sure, though. What he'd went through in 2023 had worn him down.

Vanderbilt's week zero game against Hawaii and the beginning of its week one contest was highlighted by Wright being around the ball, making plays on it and breaking out. That didn't last long, though.

It was never the same after that.

"Last year man, it was a tough one," Wright said. "Messed up my ankle the second game of the year and having to deal with that and getting shot up almost every game and being in the training room almost every day, it was really tough on me emotionally as well as physically."

As Wright reflected on that season, he realized that he went through it with guys that he couldn't bear leaving yet.

After some prodding, his mind was made up.

"They kinda talked me into it, I realized those are my brothers," Wright said of his teammates' role in his decision to return to Vanderbilt after entering the transfer portal. "We're brothers for four years, but it's also like we're brothers forever too. We did a lot of hard stuff together, a lot of grinding...I just wanted to finish it out with them.

"I came here for a reason, to be on a mission."

The mission is the same for Wright as it was when he arrived on campus ahead of the 2020 season. Year five in a familiar place looks unfamiliar to Wright in some ways, though.

The jersey number is different, the position is more oriented towards the field rather than the boundary, the roster is different. Wright's role could be, too.

“We just have a bunch of guys that are kinda looking for what that role’s gonna be, De’Rickey’s a part of that conversation,” Lea said. “His game experience and his football intelligence help him. Like I said; I think he’s a guy that you can do a lot of different things with on third down so we’ll be excited to see him featured in those packages too.”

Regardless of role, Wright is determined to finish what he started years ago on West End and to brings his vision of the program to life in his last ride.

"Like I said; we came in with a mission, to line up with what coach Lea's got and to hopefully be able to bring it to fruition."